1. Field of the invention:
The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for removing and particularly for cutting the viscera off the poultry when the viscera are hanging out of the carcass or body of the poultry.
In the process of cleaning and preparing poultry for human consumption, the birds are hung by the legs and laterally moved along a horizontally disposed guide bar. The birds are subsequently defeathered and operated on by various automatic machines which remove parts of the body of the birds, opens the abdominal cavity and pulls out the internal organs. Some of the organs, such as the liver, and the heart are selectively cut and recuperated. The remaining parts such as the gizzard, intestines and bowels are pulled away or cut off from the body. The present application is particularly directed to this last operation and, in particular, to the method and apparatus for accomplishing this operation. For accomplishing this operation, the bird is brought to a horizontal position which facilitates the removal operation, and reduces the danger of contamination compared to the vertical position.
2. Prior Art:
Although the viscera have been manually cut off in the past, an automatic machine is cheaper and preferred.
The Cantrell Machine Co. Inc. of Gamesville, Ga. produces a machine referred to as EH-20 which is adapted to extract the viscera from inside the body of the poultry and pull them off. This machine generally operates as follows.
It is adapted to operate on birds hanging vertically, from the back of their legs, hooked in shackels and retained therein by a guide bar. The birds, having an opening in their abdominal cavity, are transported in front of a large rotating wheel tilted relative to the plane of the moving birds. The wheel is provided with a plurality of arms radially projecting at its periphery. Each arm has an off-center enlarged head. During rotation of the wheel, each arm is introduced in the cavity of a bird passing by. At that stage, the arm is twisted so that the enlarged head of the arm grabs the proventriculus and uses it to pull out the viscera and subsequently extract them from the body of the bird. Such a machine is complex and requires precise adjustment of the arms relative to the shackles and the birds. Further adjustments are needed depending on the sized of the birds. It has also been found that the introduction of the Cantrell's arms inside the body of the birds constitute a foreign matter which can lead to the transfer of bacteria from one bird to another.